Stop neonazis! FYEG demands ban on neonazi demonstration

Czech neo-Nazi demonstration, planned for the 1st of May in Brno, is part of a worrying racist trend in Europe which closely correlates with austerity measures and growing anti immigration sentiment.

The economic crisis, along with austerity measures, has led to a growing policy trend towards restricting migration. This has set the stage for a rise in the racist and xenophobic neo-Nazi movement across Europe. Just as we oppose the destruction of our welfare systems, we also oppose any institutionalisation of racism and prejudice.

The Roma minority is once again one of the main victims of this development. In Eastern Europe many demonstrations directed openly against this community have been held with the legal support of democratic governments. At the beginning of September there was a Nazi demonstration in a Roma neighbourhood in Budapest and the village Gyöngyöspata in northern Hungary saw a Roma community evacuated because of repeated attacks by a right-wing extremist paramilitary organization Véderő (Defence). In April, in the Czech town of Krupka, the extreme-right Workers‘ Social Justice Party and the neo-Nazi groups Autonomous Nationalists held a demonstration in which they attacked a religious service attended mainly by Roma. And this is not confined to Eastern Europe. Dresden, Germany, recently experienced the largest neo-Nazi demonstration in Europe last February.

On the 1st of May, neo-Nazi and extreme right movements plan to have another protest in a Roma neighbourhood in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. We ask the Brno City Council and the Czech Government to ban this demonstration and any kind of Nazi expression in the country. Moreover, FYEG wholeheartedly supports the anti-Nazi movement and their attempts to stop neo-Nazi attacks. FYEG believes that the first of May is a day of solidarity regardless of nationality and ethnicity and calls upon all anti-fascist activists to take action.